Energy Biosciences Institute

The Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), largest public-private partnership of its kind in the world, was created in 2007 to address one of the 21st Century’s greatest challenges – finding a technological solution to the problems associated with climate change, global warming, and the rising price and diminishing supplies of carbon-based fossil fuels.

The partner institutions – the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and the international energy company BP, which funds the research – are addressing bioenergy concerns on several fronts. Their 10-year, $500 million quest seeks sustainable, environmentally friendly plant-based fuels to join a balanced portfolio of responsible, renewable energy sources.

The EBI is comprised of more than 70 programs and projects involving over 300 scientists and students engaged in investigations within five multidisciplinary fields.